Quote 4
"Right you are," said Silver; "rough and ready. But mark you here, I'm an easy man--I'm quite the gentleman, says you; but this time it's serious. Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote--death. When I'm in Parlyment and riding in my coach, I don't want none of these sea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers. Wait is what I say; but when the time comes, why, let her rip!" (11.31)
Here, Long John Silver is drastically redefining duty. His duty is to his pirate crewmates, which mean that he votes for killing Captain Smollett, Squire Trelawney and the other good guys. The problem with telling people to do their duty as a moral lesson is that we all have different notions of duty. To Long John Silver, apparently killing people for the profit of his pirate friends is a kind of duty.
Quote 5
"Is that you, John Silver? What brings you here, man?"
"Come back to my dooty, sir," returned Silver.
"Ah!" said the captain, and that was all he said (33.41-3)
This moment is one of Long John Silver's rare missteps. He knows nobody believes in his humble, friendly act anymore, but he still puts it on. Why does he even bother to tell Captain Smollett that he has "come back to [his] dooty [duty]" in Chapter 33? What duty could Long John Silver mean here?
Quote 6
"Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong," quoth Silver. "You would lose your precious life, and you may lay to that. I'm on your side now, hand and glove; and I shouldn't wish for to see the party weakened, let alone yourself, seeing as I know what I owes you. But these men down there, they couldn't keep their word--no, not supposing they wished to; and what's more, they couldn't believe as you could." (34.12)
Long John Silver is telling Doctor Livesey that to try to treat the sick pirates now would be madness – they would kill him in a second. But perhaps the most tragic thing about Long John Silver's comment is that the pirates "couldn't believe as [Doctor Livesey] could" keep his promise to help. In other words, they are so used to breaking promises that they can't imagine anyone being able to keep them. This is the key problem with the way pirates live in Stevenson's world: because they are violent and untrustworthy, they assume that everyone around them will be that way too, so they can't see or understand goodness anymore. Is Long John Silver any different? Do you see any good in his character?